Prior to the conception and development of the present invention, as is generally well known in the prior art, electroplating is typically performed in a batch operation. The same is true of electro-cleaning.
Electroplating requires a prepared surface. In practice, this surface preparation is governed, for example, by ASTM B322. One of the processes used to clean the electroplated surface is electro-cleaning.
The process of electro-cleaning is immerse the piece as an anode in an appropriate solution such as an alkaline salt in an electrolytic cell and to apply a direct current such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,803,596 issued to Brown.
A similarly in conventional electroplating the piece is immersed in a suitable solution, such as a metal salt, and attached to the cathode. The anode is either soluble to replace the metal ions depleted from the solution by deposition or insoluble and the solution is replenished. The conventional process requires a current density and extended time to effectively clean and plate the piece.
A continuous process and apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,392,687 issued to Nachtman. In this process, a pair of rollers journaled in current conducting bearings contacts the wire. The wire passes through a tubular electrode and a solution is circulated through the apparatus. However, mechanism, including rotating the anode, to apply electrical current to the electrolytic cell is cumbersome and impractical in an industrial setting.